Chapter 4: The Adventure Kit
Quantitative Quest Coloring Page
"Quantitative research asks: 'How tall are you?'"
Subby the Robot measuring a tall sunflower with a ruler.
About this page
Where Detail Dog asked the butterflies about feelings, Subby the Robot holds a ruler up to a tall sunflower and gets a number. This is quantitative research, the counting-and-measuring side of science, and it is a natural fit for a robot who loves precision. Together with the page before it, this scene completes a friendly pair, some questions need stories and some need numbers. Kids can start collecting their own numbers right away, heights, times, and how-many counts, and this page plants the idea that measuring something is a way of paying close attention to it.
The research skill
Subby holds a ruler up to a tall smiling sunflower, with numbers scattered all around. The skill is measuring the same way every time: start at zero, keep the ruler straight, and stick to one unit. Otherwise, two measurements of the same flower can disagree just because of sloppy technique. In Chapter 4, planning includes deciding how to measure before collecting any data. In school this becomes units and careful measurement, and researchers write their measuring rules down so others can repeat the work exactly.
Try it at home
Measure a family of stuffed animals using matching spoons or your child's hand spans as the unit. First, measure one toy carelessly, starting halfway up its body. Then measure it again, starting exactly at the bottom. Compare the two numbers and talk about why they differ. Next, measure three toys the careful way, write each number on a scrap of paper, and line the toys up from shortest to tallest, the same careful way Subby measures the sunflower.
Talk about it while you color
- What things around our house could we measure together after coloring?
- How tall do you think the sunflower is compared to you?
- Why do you think Subby wants a number instead of just saying the flower is big?